Perceived health and quality of life: the effect of exposure to atmospheric pollution

International audienceInterest in understanding how atmospheric pollution affects well-being andquality of life has increased during the last ten years. The existing literatureexamines the role of psychological and psychosocial factors in understanding theeffect of risk perception and annoyance due to air pollution on perceived healthand quality of life. However, less attention has been paid to the combined effectof subjective ecological vulnerability and socioeconomic insecurity on quality oflife. Drawing on the transactional models of environmental satisfaction andstress, we investigate how health risk perception, perceived annoyance due to airpollution and socioeconomic insecurity could be associated with perceivedhealth and perceived quality of life in two French cities, selected on the basis oftheir high objective air pollution, and in a reference one with a low level of airpollution. The survey was conducted among a stratified random sample of 1500participants (500/city). The results highlight the importance of the subjectiveperception of annoyance and of health risk perception due to air pollution inthe combined effects of socioeconomic and ecological factors of vulnerability forthe polluted cities